From Point A to Point B
by MOWSIES
Summary: They say a red string ties two fated lovers together. But in the vast sea of people that appear in your life, how long will it take for you to find them? How can you tell who holds the other end of the string?
1. Chapter 1

Hello! I'm really hating myself for not focusing on only one story and uploading other stories I've written. I'm at a writer's block with Ghostly Vampire right now. Don't know why. Just am. But this story randomly popped in my head one day! Took me a while to type it up. Didn't even re-read it either. Please R&R and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Had I owned this series, the idea of red string would have brought these two lovers together already in the KHR series. Unfortunately, it's just my imagination...

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**Chapter 1: Down the Aisle**

"Tsuna-san!"

"Eh?" Tsuna turned to see Haru running up to him. "Haru? What are you doing- Agh!"

Haru had ran up to him and jumped into his 'embrace.'

"Haru missed Tsuna-san so much-desu!" Haru screamed in their embrace. "Haru just had to run up to Tsuna-san because Haru hasn't seen Tsuna-san in a week!"

"That's...great and all...Haru..." Tsuna struggled to say, "but...let me go! I...can't...breathe!"

"Oh!" Haru immediately let go. "Gomenasai, Tsuna-san! Is Tsuna-san all right?"

"...Better..." Tsuna said in between large intakes of air.

"Oh, good!" Haru clapped her hands together. "Then Tsuna-san can accompany Haru to the store-desu!"

"Hah...huh?" Tsuna looked up at Haru. "What?"

"Hehe!" Haru giggled as she grabbed his arm and dragged him along. "Tsuna-san can be Haru's bodyguard! Haru's going to become Tsuna-san's wife in the near future so Tsuna-san needs to protect Haru-desu!"

"Wha- no!" Tsuna protested, but to no avail. "HIEEE!"

Haru did not hear his refusal and dragged him into a store with her.

"Here we are!" Haru finally let go of his arm to take a better look at the store.

"Ow," Tsuna cried in pain as he rubbed his sore arm. "Where are we?"

"Haru and Tsuna-san are at the fabrics store-desu!" Haru answered.

"...And why are we here?" Tsuna continued asking.

"Why, to get more fabric, of course-desu!" Haru stated matter-of-factly, walking further into the store. "Haru needs to get more fabric to make more costumes! Especially a wedding costume for Tsuna-san and Haru's wedding!"

"Wedding?" Tsuna cried. "Haru, we're not even dating!"

"Now then, what colors should Haru get?" Haru said to herself as she began walking away.

"Ha-Haru!" Tsuna called out to her. "Where are you going?"

Tsuna groaned in frustration as he lost Haru at the front of the store.

"I can't leave or else Haru will complain to Reborn and I'll get it even worse," Tsuna moaned to himself. "Might as well go look for her."

And so he began his search for Haru, although he wasn't sure where to start so he just picked a random aisle.

"Haru!" Tsuna called as he walked further down the aisle towards the end. "Haru! Where are you?"

"Herbivore," came a voice next to him.

"HIIIEE!" Tsuna jumped and bumped into a stand.

The stand broke and all the yarn stationed on it fell on top of Tsuna, the strings loosening out of the rolls they were in and tying Tsuna up in it.

"GYAH!" Tsuna screamed as he tried to move the annoying objects out of his way. "I'm stuck!"

"Oy," came a voice underneath him. "Stop squirming and get off me."

"Eh?" Tsuna stopped moving.

Suddenly, he had a sickening feeling that the soft floor that he just noticed he was on was actually a person, and that person happened to be someone he would never in a million years wished to have fallen on. Tsuna turned to meet steel gray eyes glaring daggers at him.

"HIIIIEEE!" Tsuna screamed. "Hibari-san!"

Tsuna tried to push himself off of Hibari, but the strings wrapping around them only tightened the hold around them, making Tsuna rebound and fall back onto Hibari.

"Gah!" Tsuna fell face first onto Hibari's chest.

_Oh shit!_ Tsuna thought as he started sweating. _I'm on top of Hibari-san! This is embarrassing! I'll bet Hibari-san's gonna bite me to death!_

"Kimi," came an ominous tone. "Kami korosu."

_HIIIE!_ Tsuna screamed in his head as he shut his eyes tightly. _I knew it! I'm screwed!_

But nothing came. Tsuna opened up one eye to see that Hibari was struggling with moving his right hand, along with his left (after Tsuna opened both his eyes), because of all the loose string wrapped around them.

_Safe! _Tsuna thought in relief. _For now, that is..._

"Get off me, herbivore," Hibari repeated himself.

"Hie!" Tsuna pushed himself up to keep as much distance from Hibari as he could. "I'm so sorry! I'm really sorry, Hibari-san!"

Tsuna thought he saw veins popping out of Hibari's head as his glare darkened.

_I am so screwed after this is all over! _Tsuna thought as he winced at the heated glare on him.

"Hey!" someone called, running up to them. "Are you guys all right?"

"Oh!" Tsuna turned to look at the store clerk running up to him. "Help! We're stuck!"

"What happened?" the clerk asked as he bent down.

"Um," Tsuna started as he bit his lip. "I accidentally bumped into the stand and now all this yarn fell and covered us."

"...How the heck does that happen?" the store clerk looked at him strangely. "Yarn does not fall out of its roll unless you actually ripped the string out. You guys look like you're in a red spiderweb!"

"Hehe," Tsuna chuckled nervously. "It just did?"

"Well," the clerk said as he stood up, "you're just gonna have to stay like this for a while. I gotta go get scissors, so I'll be back. All right?"

"You don't have any on you right now?" Tsuna looked at him in distress.

"Well, no," the clerk answered. "Why would I? My apron doesn't even have a pocket for it. Just hold on and I'll be back."

"Then hurry up, herbivore," came a demanding tone underneath Tsuna.

"That voice," the store clerk froze. "Don't tell me... that's Hibari-san!"

"Um... yeah," Tsuna replied.

"Oh!" the clerk jumped. "Um, well, I'll hurry up and get a scissor and help you and Hibari-san out of that!"

The clerk ran back the way he came and grabbed a pair of scissors and came back as soon as he could.

"That was fast," Tsuna commented.

"Well," the clerk laughed nervously, "this is _the_ disciplinary chairman you're with, you know?"

"Shut up and get to work," Hibari boomed, "or I'll bite you to death."

"Hie!" Tsuna screamed in fear.

"Y-yessir!" the clerk started cutting up the yarn.

"Tsuna-san?" a girl's voice popped up in front of him.

"Haru?" Tsuna looked up.

"Hahi, what is Tsuna-san doing with all this red yarn-desu?" she asked.

"Um," Tsuna scratched his cheek. "Well, stuff happened and the yarn fell on me."

"Hahi!" Haru looked shocked. "That's terrible-desu!"

"I agree," came a soft voice. "What a terrible coincidence."

"Huh?" Tsuna looked at Haru's shoulder. "Fon-san! What are you doing here?"

"Hey!" the clerk yelled at Tsuna. "Stop moving! I'm trying to cut the yarn here!"

"Hiie!" Tsuna bowed his head down. "I'm sorry!"

"Tsuna-san!" Haru chimed. "I met Fon-san at the fabrics aisle and we were talking about wedding costumes for you and me. He suggested I try making a Chinese wedding dress-desu! Look at all the red fabric I got! Aren't you excited?"

"N-not really, Haru," Tsuna reluctantly answered.

"Done!" the store clerk exclaimed. "Man, that was a lot of yarn that you guys got covered in. Took me a while to cut it all out of the way for you guys to get out."

"Thanks!" Tsuna said as he got up and off Hibari.

"No problem," the clerk smiled.

Hibari stood up after Tsuna got off him and started walking off.

"Wah!" Tsuna screamed as he fell on Hibari again.

"Tsuna-san!" Haru ran up to him. "Is Tsuna-san all right-desu?"

"Y-yeah," Tsuna said.

"Herbivore," Hibari fumed. "How many times must I repeat myself?"

"Hiie!" Tsuna screamed (yet again) and he pushed himself off of Hibari once again. "I'm sorry, Hibari-san!"

As he pushed himself off and stood up, he ended up tripping and fell on his butt.

"Ouch!" he yelped.

"Oh dear," the storm arcobaleno said as he jumped off Haru's shoulder, "you seem to be tied up around your legs as well. Your ankles, to be exact."

"What?" Tsuna looked at his ankle and saw the red yarn tangled around his and Hibari's ankles. "HIEE! How?"

"Hold on!" the clerk said as he bent down again. "I'll cut these off for ya!"

"Hurry it up!" Hibari's eye seemed to be twitching from Tsuna's viewpoint.

"Y-yes!" the clerk began by cutting the string around Hibari's ankle, followed by Tsuna. "There! We're done!"

"Oh thank god!" Tsuna sighed in relief as he stood up.

"Hmph," Hibari huffed as he stood up.

"I'm really sorry this happened Hibari-san," Tsuna bowed.

"Hahi!" Haru went to stand next to Tsuna and bowed her head as well. "Haru is very sorry to Hibari-san that this happened-desu! Haru ran off and left Tsuna-san all by himself so Tsuna-san got lost and this happened-desu. Please forgive both Haru and Tsuna-san!"

"Haru!" Tsuna grabbed her shoulder. "It's not your fault! It was mine for not being careful!"

"But it was Haru's fault, Tsuna-san!" Haru turned to face him, eyes watering. "If Haru hadn't ran off without taking Tsuna-san with, then this wouldn't have happened-desu!"

"Man," the store clerk scratched the back of his head. "I feel like I'm watching a lovers' quarrel."

"Wha- we're not dating!" Tsuna exclaimed in frustration.

"Hahi!" Haru's eyes gleamed in excitement and hands clapped together. "Someone just called us lovers-desu!"

"Haru!" Tsuna palmed his face. "We're not dating!"

"You all are crowding," a foreboding tone popped up. "I will bite you all to death."

"Well!" the clerk brought his left hand up and looked at his wrist. "Look at the time. My shift's almost over! I gotta go!"

And so the clerk ran off to the back of the store, leaving Tsuna with Haru, Fon, and the fuming disciplinary chairman.

"Um, well, Haru," Tsuna said as he grabbed her arm, "let's go pay for your fabric, okay?"

"Hahi!" Haru was blushing at Tsuna initiating something this time. "Yes Tsuna-san!"

"Well, we're off!" Tsuna bowed quickly at Hibari. "Bye! And sorry for everything that happened!"

Now the only remaining people were Hibari and Fon.

"What were you doing here, Hibari Kyoya?" Fon inquired as he walked up to the red yarn on the floor that the clerk forgot to clean up.

"Hmph," Hibari folded his arms. "My mother required me to fetch some yarn for her."

"Is that so?" Fon said as he reached down to grab a piece of the yarn. "What a coincidence."

"What is?" Hibari asked, peeved at the words the storm arcobaleno was using.

"This piece of string that was tied between you and the Vongola Decimo around the ankle," Fon stated as he tugged on the string to grab the other end, "it's not tangled at all."

"I have no time to listen to your babbles, Storm infant," Hibari said as he walked off with a couple rolls of purple yarn around an arm.

"It looks more like... a red string of fate," he finished, even though Hibari wouldn't hear him.

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TADA! End of chapter 1! I had actually gotten the idea of the red string of fate from an awesome HK love comedy I watched a long time ago. It's called Love in the Time of Twilight starring Nicky Wu and Charlie Yeung (I think that's her name). Awesome movie by Tsui Hark. Nothing about this story relates to the movie at all, just the red string. Thanks for reading and review if you could! :)


	2. Chapter 2

All right! Another chapter! Took me forever to work on this! I don't want to say much about this series (because it randomly popped up in my head so I don't know much about it at all), but each chapter will not immediately follow the previous chapter. I plan to just pick moments in time that try to pair our lovely 1827 together! This story's supposed to be short. Just a few chapters and an ending. So don't expect too much from this story! Please R&R and enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: Not mine. Why? Because. Just because...

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**Chapter 2: Turning off the Lights Adds Effect**

"Tsuna-kun!"

"K-Kyoko-chan!" Tsuna looked ahead to see Kyoko waving at him.

He ran up towards her, anxious to see why she was trying to get his attention.

_Oh my god! _He thought. _There's no one here in the hallways! Maybe she's..._

"W-what's up?" he tried asking smoothly with his shaking hands in his pockets.

"I was wondering..." she asked shyly.

"Y-yeah?" he urged her to continue.

"Well," she began, "my class is going to be holding their gaming event soon, you know?"

"Ah, yeah!" Tsuna nodded his head.

_Kami-sama! _Tsuna yelled in his head. _Have you given me my most desired wish?! After all these years, and now that we've reached high school, will you hand Kyoko to me? She must be asking me to walk around the school festival with her after her class' event ends! I can't wait! YES!_

"So I was hoping..." she avoided eye contact with him and placed her hands behind her.

_YES! _Tsuna screamed in his head.

"...If you could come help out in our class!" Kyoko beamed.

"Yes!" Tsuna answered excitedly. "...Wait. What?"

"Oh good!" Kyoko clapped her hands together in front of her. "We weren't sure if we would get enough guests to play our game! Especially the boys! Make sure you bring Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun along too!"

"Oh, okay," Tsuna said, not enthused.

"We're in room 1-C and it starts at 11!" Kyoko waved at him as she ran off.

"...Yeah," Tsuna waved back, watching her figure recede into the background.

As soon as Kyoko disappeared, Tsuna dropped his hand and head in defeat.

"That was hopeless," Tsuna said to no one in particular.

"That was a major fail, Dame-Tsuna," said a voice on the wall.

"HIIIEEE!" Tsuna jumped to the other side of the hallway. "Reborn! Don't tell me you saw that!"

"I'm your tutor," Reborn stated matter-of-factly. "I see everything."

"For some reason," Tsuna said, looking at Reborn weirdly, "that doesn't sound right, coming from you."

Tsuna huffed and sat down with his knees up.

"Man," Tsuna brought his arms on top of his knees and laid his head on them. "Can't a guy like me just hope for something to happen?"

"You've had a crush on her since middle school, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn said as he closed the door he came out of on the wall and took a seat next to him. "Maybe that something's done and over with. Maybe something else is bound to happen. There are always other potentials. For example, Haru."

"Haru?!" Tsuna turned to look at Reborn. "No way! She's way overly obsessed! I couldn't go out with her!"

"She came to Namimori high school to follow you," Reborn said. "I think that's reasonable."

"But I can't see myself with her, Reborn," Tsuna returned his head to his arms. "It's always been Kyoko."

"Well, she was your first crush so forget about it," Reborn advised. "If all else fails, I could introduce you to some girls from allied families."

"Oh god no!" Tsuna covered his face with his hands. "Not this again! Reborn, I told you I don't want anything to do with the Mafia! Especially girls from other Mafia families!"

"Mah, they are much better candidates than Kyoko," Reborn concluded.

"No one's better than the school idol," Tsuna retorted.

"Whatever," Reborn said with an added kick to Tsuna's head. "But you better head to Kyoko's classroom now. It's starting soon."

"Ow!" Tsuna rubbed his head where Reborn kicked him. "All right. All right. I gotta go find Yamamoto and Gokudera first though."

"Yamamoto should be finishing off his round at the baseball club's room," Reborn said. "And Gokudera was just checking out the Supernaturals and Extraterrestrials club."

"Okay," Tsuna said as he got up. "Thanks, Reborn."

After finding Yamamoto and Gokudera at their suggested locations from Reborn, they headed for room 1-C.

"So what's Sasagawa's class doing?" Yamamoto asked.

"I'm not really sure," Tsuna answered. "Kyoko-chan said it was a game. I guess we'll find out when we get there."

"Juudaime!" Gokudera said. "If it's a game, I'm sure you'll win no matter what! As your right hand man, I'll make sure you win!"

"Uh, thanks Gokudera," Tsuna nervously smiled, "but I think I'll be all right. It's just a game anyway."

"A game that Juudaime must always win!" Gokudera stated with determination. "Mark my words, Juudaime will win this!"

"Hahaha," Yamamoto laughed. "I'm kinda excited for this! It sounds like it'll be fun!"

"But we don't even know anything about it," Tsuna mumbled.

"Ah! Here it is!" Yamamoto pointed out. "Room 1-C!"

Tsuna reached for the door and slid it open.

"Irashai masen!" one of the students welcomed them.

"Ah! Tsuna-kun!" Kyoko walked up to them.

"K-Kyoko-chan!" Tsuna blushed profusely.

Kyoko was donned in a cute and poofy pink knee-length dress with puffy short sleeves and wore matching pink accessories along with. It kind of reminded Tsuna of that one Cardcaptor Hanako girl in one of her outfits.

_KAWAII!_ Tsuna was screaming in his head.

"You came!" she said excitedly. "Thank you! I'm so glad you came and brought Gokudera-kun and Yamamoto-kun along too!"

"Y-yeah," Tsuna smiled nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "It's no problem."

"Now we have enough players!" Kyoko clapped her hands together.

"Seriously?" someone said behind Kyoko.

"Hana!" Kyoko turned to look at her best friend. "Don't say that! That's rude!"

"We're going to be playing the matchmaking game with these... boys?" Hana said as she eyed the boys' physical profile. "Well, the taller two would be good, but I don't think anyone's gonna be happy being paired up with Tsuna for the whole day."

"Hey you!" Gokudera yelled. "Don't look down on Juudaime! He has every right to be here basking in your presence! Be grateful he respects you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Hana waved him off as she walked away. "Your Juudaime is very awesome. Kyoko, make sure you don't pair me up with any of these idiots."

"Why that ungrateful woman!" Gokudera growled as he clenched his fists.

"Maa maa," Yamamoto placed his hand on Gokudera's shoulder. "Calm down! Don't worry about it."

"Don't touch me baseball idiot!" Gokudera slapped his hand off.

"G-Gokudera," Tsuna backed away a little at his right hand's anger, "it's fine. I'm all right. She's right anyway."

"Juudaime," Gokudera began watering up and wiped away his tears with his sleeve. "You're so humble and forgiving! I feel so glad to be your right hand!

"Um, yeah," Tsuna agreed as he turned to face Kyoko. "Sorry about that Kyoko."

"It's no problem, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko continued smiling at him. "I'm sorry about what Hana-chan even said to you! That was so mean! ("I'm still here!" Hana's muffled voice came from inside the classroom behind the drapes) I'll make sure she apologizes to you later."

"It's okay," Tsuna smiled softly. "So what's your class doing?"

"We're holding a matchmaking event!" Kyoko said proudly.

"...A matchmaking event?" Tsuna repeated.

"Yep!" Kyoko nodded.

"Sweet!" Yamamoto chipped in. "What does that mean?"

"Well, I'll tell you how the game goes," Kyoko began. "We're going to have girls on one side of this row of desks and boys on the other side, with a large drape in between so that the boys can't see the girls. After we get everyone to put one of their hands underneath the cloth, we're going to turn off the lights, and my classmates and I will run around in between the two rows and randomly tie red strings on a person's pinky and tie the other end to another person's on the other row."

"Oh," Tsuna said. "Okay..."

"Then," Kyoko continued, "when we finish tying the strings, we turn the lights back on and pull out the drapes and have the contestants go on a date with the person on the other end of the string for an hour and come back here where the judges nominate who the best couple out of everyone was after they tell us what they did! Isn't that fun?"

"Oh, um, sure," Tsuna agreed.

"That sounds like fun!" Yamamoto said.

"Juudaime will surely win for sure!" Gokudera stated proudly.

"Now come on you guys!" Kyoko said as she pushed the boys towards their side of the line. "We gotta get started! We're a little behind!"

"Okay, okay!" Tsuna said as he took a random seat and turned to look to his right. "Hiie! Mochida-senpai!"

"Aw man!" Mochida groaned. "Why is Dame-Tsuna here?"

"W-well, because Kyoko-chan asked me to!" Tsuna answered proudly.

"Seriously?" Mochida gave him an incredulous look.

"Wh-what about Mochida-senpai?" Tsuna decided to speak up. "What's Mochida-senpai doing here for?"

Mochida groaned again as he rubbed his face.

"I came here to see if I could get paired up with Sasagawa," Mochida replied. "But it looks like it was wasted effort, considering she's not taking part in it."

"O-oh," Tsuna nodded in understanding.

"...I'm pretty sure you're here for the same thing too aren't ya?" Mochida gave him a suspicious look. "Almost all the boys in this school are chasing after the school idol. I wouldn't see you any different."

"N-no I'm not!" Tsuna defended. "I came here because-"

"All right everybody!" announced the class representative. "Welcome to the matchmaking game! I'm pretty sure you've been informed of the rules, so I'll make this short: Tuck one hand underneath the black fabric and when the lights go back on we'll pull the fabric off and everyone needs to find the other holder of the string. Once you do, go and have a nice date around the festival and come back in an hour and tell us what you did. The judges, myself included, will decide which couple had the best date and they'll win free lunch at the cafeteria for a month!"

"Holy crap!" one of the boys yelled. "Did you hear that?"

"Sweet!" another one said. "Free lunch!"

"Geez," a girl said. "Boys and food. What else made them come here?"

"Okay!" the class rep interrupted. "Let's start! Tuck your hands in everybody and we'll turn off the lights! It's only for added effect while you all wait!"

"Ooh!" one of the girls turned to her friend. "I'm so excited!"

CLICK!

The lights were turned off as everyone's hands were placed underneath the cloth. There was a lot rustling and a few light yelps here and there until movements underneath the cloth stopped and there was some low mumbling.

"What's taking so damn long?" Gokudera said.

"Maa maa," Yamamoto laughed it off. "Something must have happened. Maybe they tripped. It's no big deal."

"Well, it's taking too damn long," Gokudera concluded.

"Come on!" one of the boys yelled.

"J-just a second!" the class rep said as he headed for the lights.

CLICK!

"KYAA!" came loud screams from the girls' side.

The girls stood up and backed away, forgetting the strings on their pinky. The boys, unfortunately, got pulled off their desks and crashed and fell onto the drapes.

"Ow!" came the screams of pain from the boys.

"That hurt!" Gokudera moaned in pain.

"What the hell happened?" Mochida said as he rubbed his forehead.

"You all are crowding," said an ill-boding voice.

All actions stopped as all pairs of eyes turned to look at the owner of the voice.

"H-Hibari Kyouya," one of the students dared to spell his name out.

Hibari Kyouya was sitting on one of the chairs on the girls' side with his arms crossed and a very unhappy expression on his face. On his pinky was a red string that one of the students had accidentally tied onto him. Everyone's attention led to the other end of the string.

"J-Juudaime," Gokudera looked at Tsuna worriedly.

Out of all the boys, Tsuna was the only one sitting on his chair. He was trembling in fear as he kept staring at the string tying him and Hibari together, his eyes constantly shifting from his pinky to Hibari's.

"Wow Tsuna!" Yamamoto laughed. "You're paired up with Hibari-senpai! How did that happen?"

"Teme!" Gokudera got up and tried to run up to Tsuna, but was tugged back. "Wha-"

"Ah!" the girl who was tied to him fell on top of him.

"Gyah!" Gokudera screamed as he pushed the girl out of his face. "Get off me!"

"Tch," Hana palmed her face. "So not gentlemanly."

"You bastard!" Gokudera pointed at Hibari. "When I get this string off me I will beat you up for humiliating Juudaime like that!"

"Someone get the scissors!" the class rep yelled. "Where are the scissors?!"

"I got them!" someone yelled as they began handing them out to everybody to cut the strings.

Tsuna stared at the string as the scissors cut his connection to Hibari. He winced lightly at the sound of the string being cut. As soon as the string between Gokudera and the girl was cut off, Gokudera stood up and ran up in front of Tsuna.

"U-um, Hibari-san," the class rep went up to him nervously, "if I may ask, what are you doing here?"

"...I was conducting my daily routines," Hibari answered. "I happened to catch this classroom causing a ruckus and came to check on it. And you indeed were crowding around."

"B-but it's our class' event for the school festival, Hibari-san!" the class rep tried reasoning with him. "We got permission from the school committee to conduct this event!"

"That doesn't matter," Hibari said as he took out his tonfas. "Stop this crowding or I will bite you all to death."

As soon as everyone heard that sentence, all of the students scampered out the door, except for Tsuna and his two fellow guardians.

"You damn bastard," Gokudera growled. "We're not gonna listen to you!"

"B-but Gokudera," Tsuna tried protesting, "everyone's already left."

"But Juudaime!" Gokudera turned his head to glance at Tsuna quickly. "This asshole has humiliated you! I won't stand for it! I will make him pay!"

_But I don't care about that! _Tsuna cried in his head.

"Hahaha!" Yamamoto just laughed at all this. "Gokudera, you should really calm down you know. I think you're overreacting."

"Overreacting my ass!" Gokudera glared at Yamamoto. "For Juudaime's sake, I will protect his honor and pride with my life!"

"Oh really?" Hibari smirked as he brought his tonfas up into a fighting positions. "Then I will make sure you will be properly bitten to death for crowding and disobeying the disciplinary chairman."

"W-wait!" Tsuna stood up from his chair.

"What's up Tsuna?" Yamamoto asked.

"W-well," Tsuna started, "I just think all this fighting is...well, m-meaningless, you know? So, let's all just f-forgive and forget, all right?"

"Juudaime," Gokudera stared at his boss in awe.

"S-so Hibari-san," Tsuna turned to Hibari. "I am deeply s-sorry for crowding a-and we'll be on our way."

Tsuna finished his sentence with a bow and pushed Yamamoto and Gokudera out the classroom.

"Tsuna, you're such a nice guy!" Yamamoto commented.

"O-oh," Tsuna stuttered. "Thanks, Yamamoto."

"Juudaime!" Gokudera wailed, as the sound of their voices began to fade as they walked down the hallway. "I am so glad to be your right hand! I can't believe how forgiving you can be!"

Back in the classroom, Hibari had already put his tonfas away and turned towards the door. As he left the room he closed the door and happened to see the red string still tied to his pinky.

Hours later, school ended and Tsuna was heading home, along with Gokudera and Yamamoto trailing after him.

"Juudaime!" Gokudera said with enthusiasm. "You wouldn't believe what I had seen today!"

"O-oh, what did you see Gokudera?" Tsuna encouraged his right hand.

"The members of that Supernaturals club showed me one of the most amazing things ever!" Gokudera's voice rose even higher as he continued talking. "They showed me one of the rarest pictures ever taken of the loch ness monster!"

"Oh really?" Tsuna nodded, unsure of what to say when Gokudera is in his UFO/UMA mode.

"Tsuna-kun!" a feminine voice called behind him.

Tsuna turned around and saw Kyoko waving at him as she walked up to him.

"Kyoko-chan!" Tsuna smiled.

"I'm so sorry about what happened today in our classroom," Kyoko apologized.

"What are you apologizing for?" Tsuna asked.

"Well, somehow you got tied to Hibari-san," Kyoko stated. "None of us know who did it or why it happened. And then Hibari-san got really mad too because of it. I'm really sorry about it though. And then the game got canceled too!"

"It's all right Kyoko-chan," Tsuna gave Kyoko a reassuring smile. "Nothing bad happened. We're all okay."

"Oh good," Kyoko gave a smile of relief. "I've felt so bad about it all day."

"Y-you didn't have to!" Tsuna blushed.

_Oh my gosh! _Tsuna screamed in happiness. _She was thinking about me all day!_

"But I felt it was all my fault for asking you to come and bring Yamamoto and Gokudera along with you," Kyoko said.

"W-well everything ended all right and no one got hurt," Tsuna said, "and that's all that matters."

"You're such a nice person, Tsuna-kun," Kyoko said. "I'm so glad we're friends."

CRACK!

_Did I just hear my heart crack?_ Tsuna thought.

"Well, I gotta go home now!" Kyoko said as she rushed off ahead of him and his friends. "Bye Tsuna-kun! See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah, bye!" Tsuna waved back until she looked away and brought his hand down.

_Rejection, _Tsuna said to himself. _Why do you make i__t hurt so much..._

* * *

Ouchies! Poor Tsuna! Stop pining after her! I didn't mean to make her so dense and naive, but she really is! Even Haru doesn't notice Tsuna's affections towards Kyoko in canon KHR. Man! That's depressing! Oh well. I tried hard. So very hard. Yamamoto's character just made me cry because he was always laughing. What else can he do? :( And how many of you peeps were really expecting a date to occur between anybody? I was really excited myself when I created the matchmaking game. Hibari can go on a date with Tsuna! Woohoo! Not!

...Well, please tell me what you think. Thanks for reading and please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Drat! This took forever to work on! Even Ghostly Vampire is getting to me! I'm still working on that also! Sorry for the delay people! I had this major block in my head that just wouldn't let me type anything up at all! Plus I'm getting a crazy ton of ideas for stories when I haven't even finished any of my stories yet. Please bear with me as I work my brain out! :) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: ...

* * *

**Chapter 3: Graduation Leads to Confessions and Sakura Petals  
**

"Tsuna!"

Tsuna turned to his right to see Yamamoto and Gokudera running up to him.

"You baseball freak!" Gokudera yelled at Yamamoto. "Who gave you the right to call out to Juudaime first?!"

Tsuna chuckled. "Hey guys."

"Juudaime!" Gokudera stood straight once he reached Tsuna's side. "Your right hand has arrived! Juudaime's presence was greatly missed the moment we lost sight of you!"

"Yeah," Yamamoto chimed in. "What he said. Where'd you run off to, Tsuna? We were a little worried when you suddenly disappeared on us like that."

"Oh," Tsuna turned his head to look at his shoes. "Sorry about that, you guys. It's just that... Haru asked me this morning to meet her here at this tree after the graduation ceremony was done and over with."

"Oh," Yamamoto looked surprised. "What for?"

"Yeah!" Gokudera pumped his fists up. "What does that stupid woman want with Juudaime?"

"She confessed to me just a while ago," Tsuna said as he looked up at the sakura petals falling from the branches. "Right here, in front of this tree."

"W-what?!" Gokudera sputtered.

"Haha!" Yamamoto laughed. "She's always spouting that she's gonna be your future wife in this mafia game isn't she?"

"Hey!" Gokudera turned to glare at Yamamoto. "You still call it a game after all this time? Stupid baseball freak!"

"So what was your answer?" Yamamoto continued, ignoring Gokudera's insults towards him.

"...I gave her a proper reply," Tsuna said.

_Thirty minutes ago..._

"_Haru," Tsuna looked down at Haru, who was a few centimeters shorter than him. "Why did you want me to meet up with you here?"_

"_Ts-Tsuna-san," Haru began with her face down and looking everywhere but in front of here. "H-Haru is..."_

"_Hmm?" Tsuna raised an eyebrow._

"_S-suki desu!" Haru said as she looked up and stared fiercely into Tsuna's caramel brown eyes. "H-Haru knows that this whole time Haru's been clinging onto Tsuna-san and saying that Haru is Tsuna-san's future wife. B-but this time, Haru means it-desu!"_

_Tsuna's eyes were wide and he was at a loss for words._

"_A-and Haru wants to confirm Tsuna-san's feelings for Haru-desu!" Haru continued as her cheeks turned red. "Haru's been waiting forever and ever for Tsuna-san to accept Haru's feelings-desu! So Haru wants to hear Tsuna-san's answer right now!"_

"_Haru..." Tsuna looked at her sadly._

_Haru was serious. Her eyes held a strong determination that Tsuna knew he couldn't keep avoiding her any longer. All these years since he saved her life that day in their middle school years, she had been showering him with her affections to the point that it became a daily routine to argue with her about her alleged claims of being his future wife. He grabbed her right hand with his left hand and held it in front of her as he rubbed it affectionately with his thumb. Her face turned even redder with the simple gentle action from Tsuna._

"_...I like you Haru," Tsuna confessed. "I really do..."_

_He heard the hitch in her throat and saw the twinkle in her eyes._

"_...But the 'like' I hold for you is different from the 'like' you hold for me," he finished._

_He could feel her hopes within her drop the moment he said that. The hand he was gripping onto started shaking slightly and she brought her head down so he couldn't see her face._

"_I'm sorry, Haru," Tsuna apologized as he placed his right hand on top of the hand he was currently holding. "Thank you, but I can't return your feelings for me."_

"_..." Haru fisted her free hand and brought it to her chest._

"_Haru?" Tsuna bent down a little to try to see her face better._

"_...desu..." Haru mumbled._

"_Eh?" Tsuna leaned closer to hear her better._

"_Ii desu!" Haru looked up and forced a smile on her face. "Haru wa daijoubu desu!"_

"_Haru..." Tsuna gripped her hand a little tighter._

_The smile on her face was strained, and the water in her eyes were on the verge of trailing down her pale cheeks. Guilt was written all over his face as Tsuna watched one of the few women in his lives in pain because of him._

"_Haru will be fine-desu!" Haru giggled to break the tension. "Haru just wanted to hear the truth from Tsuna-san. That's all-desu. That way, Haru knows that Haru can give up on Tsuna-san when Tsuna-san leaves Namimori for Italy-desu."_

"_How did you-" Tsuna was silenced by a finger to his lips._

"_Women have their ways-desu," Haru beamed at him, in which Tsuna returned with a warm smile._

_Hands returned to their sides as the two of them took a a step back from each other, composing themselves._

"_Ja, Haru will go first then-desu!" Haru gave Tsuna one last smile before she walked passed him and ran towards the school building._

_Tsuna thought for sure he saw, at the corner of his eye, the tears she was holding back slip down her face._

"Tsuna," Yamamoto looked solemnly.

"Juudaime," Gokudera said as he tightened his fists.

"It's fine," Tsuna smiled at them. "I could never see Haru in that way. And it would be better for them, Kyoko-chan and Haru, to stay here in Japan than to come with us. Sometimes, I think, sacrifices must be made for the sake of your dreams and ambitions."

"I-I'm so sorry, Juudaime!" Gokudera blurted. "I-it's my fau-"

"You know," Tsuna walked up to the sakura tree in front of him, "I can't really believe it. We've graduated, you know? I feel like this is just a dream, and that we're still in middle school."

"...Yeah," Yamamoto agreed, staring at Tsuna's solemn face. "It does feel like it."

"Juudaime...?" Gokudera wondered what was going on in his boss' head.

"I still don't think I'm going to be a mafia don," Tsuna chuckled as he touched the tree lightly. "I'm going to keep rejecting the idea of me being a mafia boss, even though I have a one-way plane ticket to Italy next week, even though I'm going to be learning how to be a boss under the Ninth himself, even though everything's already been decided..."

"Juudaime," Gokudera walked up to Tsuna and stood by his side. "I..."

"Things happen because they were meant to be," Tsuna stated. "Even though I don't wish to be affiliated with the mafia in any way possible, I can't change the fact that probably some small part of me was wishing for this, that this happened because I wanted it to. Not that I wanted to be in the mafia, which I still don't want to. But anyway, now that it has, I have to accept it, because now I have an important role to attend to. I have a chance to change things and make it better."

Tsuna turned to face his friends with a wide grin.

"People dream for this once in a million chance, you know?" Tsuna's eyes twinkled as he spoke this and brought his hand up in front of him and held it in a fist. "And I just happened to be able to grasp it in my hand."

"Juudaime," Gokudera stared at his boss in awe.

"You know Tsuna," Yamamoto spoke up, "you've changed."

"I have?" Tsuna stared wide eyed at Yamamoto. "Seriously? I don't think so. I'm still Dame-Tsuna. My grades got a little better this year, but nothing's really changed. Are you sure, Yamamoto?"

"Hahaha!" Yamamoto laughed loudly. "You're so funny, Tsuna! I don't mean on the outside. I meant on the inside. "

"...What?" Tsuna tilted his head in confusion.

"Oi! Baseball freak!" Gokudera nudged Yamamoto. "Stop confusing Juudaime!"

"All right, all right," Yamamoto composed himself. "What I mean is, you seemed to have matured a lot since middle school, you know? Back then, you thought this mafia game we were playing was crazy and you were all like, 'I don't wanna be a boss!' and whatnot, but now, you seem to be all right about it. You're pretty cool about it now, even though you're still saying the same things. That's what I mean."

"...Hmm, I guess you're right," Tsuna said as he thought about it.

"Baseball freak," Gokudera said, "you actually said something right at the right time."

"Haha!" Yamamoto scratched the back of his head. "I know, right?"

"Che," Gokudera huffed in annoyance as he looked away. "Stole the lines of the right hand and proudly admits it. Damn."

Tsuna chuckled at the childish antics Gokudera's kept since the day he swore loyalty to him.

"To me," Tsuna said as he puts his hands in his pockets, "you guys are both equally my best friends. I can't really pick one or the other at all. Thanks for everything that you guys have done for me. I really appreciate it."

"J-Juudaime..." Gokudera was on the verge of tears. "Your right hand does not deserve such words of kindness..."

"Tsuna, I think you're way too nice," Yamamoto pointed out. "I think that vacation trip two summers ago to Italy really did something to you because you're constantly turning Gokudera into a major sap! Look at this crybaby! And I thought Lambo was the crybaby! Haha!"

"You wanna die, baseball freak?!" Gokudera threatened him as he grabbed his collar with one hand and held a dynamite in the other.

HIIIE! Tsuna screamed in his head. Not on the last day of school!

"Haha! Not really!" Yamamoto laughed.

"Oh my gosh!" Tsuna chimed in. "It's getting late you guys! We better go find Onii-san and the others before everyone leaves!"

"O-Of course Juudaime!" Gokudera let go of Yamamoto and put away the dynamite. "Your right hand will go first and find everyone before they leave!"

"All right," Tsuna replied as he watched Gokudera run ahead. "And make sure you talk to Haru properly, okay?"

Gokudera froze at that moment and slowly turned around.

"H-Hai!" he saluted stiffly. "I will make sure to do that!"

Tsuna smiled as he saw the red tint on Gokudera's face before he turned and ran off.

"What was that all about?" Yamamoto asked. "Didn't you already talk to Haru, Tsuna?"

"It's nothing," Tsuna grinned as he patted his friend's back. "Nothing for you to worry about. Now let's get going! Kaa-chan's probably still waiting to take a picture of all of us!"

"All right everyone!" Nana called out as she held the camera in front of her to take a picture of Tsuna and his friends. "Wan! Tsu! Suri! Chizu!"

"Chizu!" everyone yelled as the camera clicked.

"I got it!" Nana said as she walked up to the graduates. "I'll make sure to send a copy to each and everyone of you kids."

"That would be awesome Sawada-san!" Yamamoto laughed. "Since Oyaji couldn't make it to my graduation, pictures of the graduation ceremony would be good for him. Thanks for taking the photos, Sawada-san!"

"Oh it's no problem sweetie!" Nana patted Yamamoto's cheek. "Pictures of you remind me of my husband when he was younger. Oh he was such a handsome flirt back then! Hehe!"

"Kaa-chan!" Tsuna grabbed his mom's hand. "Stop that! That's embarrassing!"

"Dear me!" Nana put a hand to her lips as she pouted. "Tsu-kun's not letting Okaa-san have a fun time? How unfair."

"Haha! It's cool, Tsuna," Yamamoto scratched his slightly pink cheek. "Your mom's just real nice."

"But it's my mom," Tsuna replied. "And it's embarrassin-Gah!"

"Tsu-kun," Nana said as she pinched his cheek with her other hand. "It's understandable that you don't want other men vying for Okaa-san's attention and affections when she already has your father along with you. But Okaa-san is a grown woman and can take care of herself, so Tsu-kun needs to stop being so possessive of Okaa-san and grow up himself. This is your graduation, you know? Let Okaa-san spoil herself as much as she can because Tsu-kun is going to be leaving me soon."

"Kaa-chan..." Tsuna placed his hand on his mother's. "I'm so- Eyah!"

"Don't even say that!" his mother pinched even harder. "I'm going to enjoy my son's graduation no matter what! Reborn-chan promised me he'll turn you into a real man when you come back from Italy to visit, so I'll be waiting!"

"Ow," Tsuna rubbed his bruised cheek after his mother let go of it. "Hai, Kaa-chan."

"Good," his mother beamed. "Now I gotta go take some more pictures of everybody. I have to use up all this film somehow."

"Wow Tsuna," Yamamoto piped in after Tsuna's mother wandered off. "You're a real mama's boy, aren't cha?"

"Wh-what?!" Tsuna stammered. "N-no I'm not! I just don't think Kaa-chan should go around doing that kinda stuff with my friends is all!"

"Haha," Yamamoto laughed. "You're pretty possessive, Tsuna!"

"Th-that's not it Yamamoto!" Tsuna tried defending himself. "I just- well- I-"

"According to the ranking planets," Fuuta jumped in with sakura petals hanging loosely in the air, "Tsuna-nii is ranked 10 out of 948 people with a mother complex. That means he must be largely influenced in life by Nana and holds her in the highest regards."

"Haha!" Yamamoto laughed some more. "I was right!"

"Fuuta!" Tsuna screamed as he swatted away the floating sakura petals and twigs that were affected by the petit prince's ranking powers. "Don't say stuff like that! That's not true!"

"I have to write this down in my book," Fuuta noted as he pulled out a gigantic book out of the inner pocket of his jacket as soon as his trance-like state ended.

"Fuu- puah!" Tsuna began spitting out the no longer floating sakura petals that entered his mouth.

"Haha-" Yamamoto's laughter got cut short from choking on the sakura petals that entered his mouth as well.

"Tsuna-kun!" Kyoko ran over to him and patted his back. "Are you all right?"

"Juudaime!" Gokudera instantly came into the spotlight the moment he heard those words. "What's wrong? Are you hurt? Did the baseball freak do something to you?"

"Hah!" Lambo pointed at Tsuna. "Baka-Tsuna's got flowers in his mouth! Hahaha-Ptooey!"

"Lambo baka!" Ipin hit his head. "Flowers in your mouth are no good! You baka!"

"Oi!" Ryohei slapped Yamamoto's back. "Are you extremely okay there? Need some water?"

"They'll be fine," Reborn popped in with a swift kick to Tsuna's backside.

"Wah!" Tsuna yelped as he fell to the ground. "Pfft! Bleh! Reborn! You got more sakura petals in my mouth!"

"It's your own fault, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn stated, unfazed as usual at Tsuna's frustrations. "You weren't watching your back."

"You always say that!" Tsuna retorted as he stood up and wiped his mouth. "Ugh! My mouth tastes like flowers now!"

The group of friends continued chatting in front of the schol gates until Yamamoto invited everyone to eat sushi at his father's shop to which they all agreed on.

"Sawada Tsunayoshi," a quiet voice called Tsuna from behind him.

"Huh?" Tsuna turned away from the crowd in front of him.

There, standing by a Sakura tree by the school gates, was none other than Hibari Kyoya.

"Hibari-san," Tsuna ran up to him without the group noticing his disappearance. "What are you doing here?"

"...I came here to see your graduation," he merely stated. "Congratulations."

"Th-thank you," Tsuna grinned sheepishly as he scratched his cheek. "Oh!"

"Hmm?" Hibari raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Thank you Hibari-san!" Tsuna said again as he bowed deeply. "These past few years, even after you graduated, you've helped me with my homework and brought up my grades to get me here. And for that, I'm very grateful for that."

"..." there was no reply from Hibari.

"Eh?" Tsuna looked up, wondering if Hibari walked off without him realizing.

Hibari was still standing there, staring at Tsuna.

"...Hibari-san?" Tsuna stood up straight, confused at the silence.

Back at the group of friends, Nana was looking around, wondering where Tsuna was.

"Tsu-kun?" she looked back at the school. "Where is he? I have a couple shots left...Ara..."

Hibari walked up a little closer to Tsuna.

"A-ano, Hibari-san," Tsuna began, stiffening from the closer presence of the former prefect.

A sharp gust of wind blew from the side, making Tsuna wince and close his eyes at the strength of the blast. His eyes shot open the moment he felt a hand on his cheek and stared at the owner of said hand.

"Hibari-san?" Tsuna looked confused as he continued staring at Hibari's impassive face.

Hibari's hand slid from Tsuna's cheek and sifted through his hair, until he finally pulled his hand away.

"...There was a petal stuck in your hair," Hibari said as he held the petal in front of him.

"Oh!" Tsuna blushed. "That must be from when Reborn kicked me to the ground! Thank you! Ah!"

Tsuna turned to see his group of friends were starting to walk away.

"I-I have to go now Hibari-san," Tsuna bowed to Hibari once more. "Thank you for all you've done and for coming to my graduation."

Tsuna turned around to return to his friends, but stopped short to turn back to Hibari.

"A-ano sa," Tsuna started, "Yamamoto is having a party over at his dad's shop. Did you wanna come over?"

There was a short pause before Tsuna started rambling.

"I mean," Tsuna scratched his head, "you don't have to come if you don't want to. I know you don't like crowds and stuff and that we can kinda be a little too loud for you. B-but if you don't want to come it's okay! Reborn's probably going to be hosting some crazy game or something at some point during the party and then it'll just end up being ridiculous you know? Haha."

"...I will think about it," Hibari finally answered.

"Eh?" Tsuna put his hand down. "Y-you might come? Oh. Okay. Oh...kay. I-I'll let everyone know. So, ja!"

Tsuna waved a little as he ran off to catch up to his group of friends. Hibari continued watching Tsuna and his friends walking off towards the sushi shop that Yamamoto's father owns until they disappeared from his view. He turned to look at the petal he was still holding that he pulled from Tsuna's hair. It had a darker, redder hue compared to the other sakura petals that were falling. He brought it up to his lips and closed his eyes.

Everyone was enjoying the party at Yamamoto's father's shop , including Reborn's ridiculous games that everyone lost at, until Haru decided to return home. After that, everyone began to disperse, with Gokudera running to catch up to Haru, and Hana and Kyoko retiring early to spend some time together early the next day before Hana left for college in Tokyo. Ryohei left to train himself some more before leaving for Italy with Tsuna the following week. Chrome, who had come by in place of Mukuro and his lackeys to celebrate her boss' graduation, needed to return to Kokuyoland to prepare for the move, because 'Mukuro-sama couldn't decide what clothes to bring with,' she had said. Hibari never came, Tsuna had known but still hoped he would. Why he was hoping for it he was unsure of, but it was time for him to go home so he had forgotten all about it.

With Lambo knocked out on his back, he bid goodnight to Yamamoto and his father and left for home with his mother, Ipin, Fuuta and Reborn. As soon as they returned home, Nana had everyone take a bath before they went to sleep, including the sleeping Lambo.

"Ah!" Tsuna huffed as he entered his room. "I'm so tired. Stupid Lambo. Took me forever to get him to take a bath."

Tsuna dried his hair a little bit more with the towel wrapped around his neck, then threw it in the hamper in front of his bed and sat down on his bed.

"Hmm?" Tsuna noticed something on his desk. "What's that?"

He got up and walked up to his desk and found a sakura petal lying innocently on top of a notebook he left on his desk earlier that day. He picked it up and looked at it closely.

"Why is there a sakura petal on my desk?" he wondered as he looked at the window. "I'm pretty sure I closed the window before I left for school today."

"Tsu-kun!" Nana called. "You have a phone call from Dino-kun!"

"Dino-san?" Tsuna put the sakura petal back down on his desk and left his room. "Okay! I'm coming!"

* * *

Ta-dah! Yay! So, yeah. I felt like I rushed a couple scenes, but really, I felt they weren't important at all to the story. And I really would like to believe that Mukuro is a fashion freak. He can create illusions to make his clothes, but I'm pretty sure he'd like the real thing to look at to ogle and all that stuff. I feel that Tsuna's a real mama's boy. You don't really see it that much in the manga, but he does seem to confide in his mom and all that stuff if you think about it. Thanks for reading! Please review! I like followers and favorite-ers, but reviews make me happier! :)

Some translations in case you were wondering:

suki desu - if you watch enough anime, you know it means "i like you"

Ii desu - "it's okay" or something close to it

Haru wa daijoubu desu - "Haru is all right"

Wan! Tsu! Suri! Chizu! - I forgot what the romanization is for it, but I was trying to get Nana to say One, Two, Three! Cheese!

Oyaji - kinda like saying "pops" or "old man" instead of "dad" or "father"


	4. Chapter 4 pt 1

Dear myself: why did it take me so long to work on this story? Man, I'm disappointed in myself. Sorry that I can't get stories done fast enough. I don't have the motivation, to kick myself in the face and start typing. I'd rather sit on my not-so-comfy chair and lurk around on the net. Okay, enough talking, I got a story needed to be read! The chapter got too long for me so I decided to stop typing and at least post this half chapter and post the final one after I type it up. At least I got something done! Woohoo!

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**Chapter 4 Part 1: Frustrations of the Confused**

"Tsunayoshi."

"Eh?" Tsuna looked up. "What is it, Kyouya-san?"

"You've barely taken a sip of your coffee," the man across the table from him said. "Shall we order a different drink?"

"Oh! No!" Tsuna waved his hands. "I'm fine with it! Really!"

He picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip of the cooled liquid.

"...I've just been thinking too much," Tsuna decided to tell him. "That's all."

"...About what?" Hibari inquired.

"Ab-about w-wh-what?" Tsuna stammered as he repeated Hibari's words. "N-nothing! Nothing at all! Just some...stuff."

"What are you thinking about, Tsunayoshi?" Hibari asked.

Tsuna began fidgeting with his hands as he looked away in nervous fright.

"W-well, about this!" Tsuna answered while motioning his hands between the two of them.

"...What about it?" Hibari continued asking as he took a sip of his tea.

"Well," Tsuna's hand sifted through his hair as he began, "I just don't understand it at all."

Back in high school, during the end of Tsuna's first year of high school, Hibari Kyouya had begun helping Tsuna with his homework and studying for upcoming tests. Tsuna never knew why or even bothered to ask, but with the guidance of his Cloud guardian, he was able to maintain a decent grade point average for the rest of his high school years, well, besides gym class, which he somehow barely passed. After graduating high school, Tsuna left for Italy to learn office work duties (because he will not admit that it is for the mafia) from Nono, with most of his guardians following him as well. Lambo stayed back in Japan until Tsuna deemed him old enough to take on his guardian role with Fuuta and Ipin, and Hibari stayed back as well to keep the peace in Namimori, only coming to Italy if his presence was required.

During the times when Tsuna would come back to Japan for a short break or for some minor business dealings, Hibari would call him up and they would meet up at a cafe and have tea and coffee with a slice of cake. Tsuna would do most of the talking and Hibari would do most of the listening, however, their conversations would only take up less than half of the time during their meetups. The rest of the time was spent more on drinking and eating the cake and looking everywhere but the person in front of them.

This has been happening for over five years now, and Tsuna has been getting restless each and every single time he has met up with Hibari, who told him to properly address him by his given name (which made Tsuna uncomfortable, so he left the suffix on Hibari's given name). This time though, his restlessness has finally caught up to him.

"What don't you understand, Tsunayoshi?" Hibari wondered as he set his cup down.

"Argh," Tsuna scratched his head. "Well, everything! I really don't understand it!"

"Herbivore," Hibari was getting irritated. "You are not making sense to me."

Tsuna began sputtering nonsense as he looked around and back at Hibari and scoffed.

"No, _you_ are not making sense to _me_!" Tsuna pointed to Hibari and back at himself. "Gah! I just don't get it! You're making me think about it! And thinking about it is getting on my nerves!"

"Elaborate, herbivore," Hibari demanded.

"Elaborate? How am I supposed to elaborate?!" Tsuna cried in frustration as he stood up. "It's like, you call me up every time I come back to Namimori and then we meet up over tea and coffee, and then... and then..."

"And then...?" Hibari raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"And then," Tsuna slumped back down and looked at his cold coffee, "well, that's... basically it. I guess I... just don't get it. I don't understand why I'm having coffee with you."

"...You... don't understand?" Tsuna heard him say.

Tsuna looked up at Hibari, only to see him frowning down at his tea.

"Kyouya-san?" Tsuna tilted his head in confusion.

"...This was supposed to a date," Hibari murmured as he brought his head lower.

"What's that?" Tsuna asked as he leaned forward to hear him better. "What did you just say, Kyouya-san?"

"..." Hibari gave no reply.

After a short while, Hibari stood up, which surprised Tsuna.

"HIIIE!" Tsuna jumped in shock.

Hibari walked around the table and grabbed Tsuna's wrist and pulled him away from the table.

"Wh-where are you taking me?!" Tsuna yelled. "We haven't paid for the drinks or the cakes yet!"

"They'll put it on my tab," Hibari answered as he continued dragging Tsuna along and left the cafe.

"B-but..." Tsuna was still hesitant about it.

"Be quiet, herbivore," Hibari ordered.

Tsuna gulped and shut his mouth for the rest of their walk. People who passed them by gave them strange looks, but turned away the moment they noticed who was dragging Tsuna.

_Why am I being dragged around Namimori by Kyouya-san?_ Tsuna thought to himself as he stared at his hand that was being held by Hibari. _This is weird. This is just too weird._

They suddenly stopped, making Tsuna look up and around him.

"Um," Tsuna scratched his cheek with his free hand, "what are we doing at Nami-chu, Kyouya-san?"

"..." Hibari gave no answer as he stared up at the sakura tree in front of him.

"...Kyouya-san," Tsuna tried to get his attention. "It's summer time. Why are we standing in front of a sakura tree?"

Finally, Hibari turned around and stared at Tsuna with a look of determination.

"K-Kyouya-san?" Tsuna stuttered as he took a step back, uncertain of the look he was getting, but was pulled back towards Hibari due to their joined hands.

"Meet me at the Namimori shrine tonight at 7," Hibari hastily told him.

"...Eh?" Tsuna looked dumbfounded.

"...Hnn..." Hibari looked away while biting his bottom lip.

Tsuna's jaw dropped.

_W-what's goin' on here?!_ Tsuna thought. _Am I seeing this? For real? Wh-why is Hibari-san acting so... so shy?!_

"...I want you to meet me at the Namimori shrine tonight," he reiterated in a slower pace as he refocused on Tsuna, "at 7."

"B-but why?" Tsuna asked. "I mean, what if I have plans with everyone else? I came back to Japan today to meet up with my mother and check up on the kids. They might want to do something this evening. I-in fact, I'm pretty sure I'll be busy this evening, Kyouya-san! I just got back from Italy today, so I'm really tired from the trip. We can meet up some other time, you know?"

"I..." Hibari started, but closed his mouth as he tried to word out his demands. "...It has to be tonight. It can't be any other night. I wa- I need you to meet me at the Namimori shrine tonight."

The grip Hibari held on Tsuna's hand tightened with his request. Tsuna looked down at their joined hands and noticed Hibari's hand slightly trembling.

_But...why? _Tsuna wanted to say again.

"...O-okay," was the answer that came out of his mouth. "Fine. 7 o'clock, right? I-I'll try to be there on time. B-but you have to tell me why you're being like this! Okay?"

The frown on his face softened as Hibari turned away and avoided eye contact from Tsuna.

"Hn," he lightly nodded.

"...All right then," Tsuna said. "So, um, can you let go of my hand now, Kyouya-san?"

Tsuna could feel a little reluctance coming from the older man, however Hibari did as Tsuna asked and immediately released his hold on his hand. Tsuna put his hands together and began rubbing them together anxiously.

"Well," he breathed in as he clasped his hands, "I think I'm going to head out first. So...I'll see you tonight, Kyouya-san."

Hibari was looking away, but Tsuna saw a slight nod coming from his Cloud guardian, responding to his notice of departure. Tsuna turned away and headed out of the Namimori Middle school, unaware of the pair of eyes that turned to watch his retreating form.

DING! DONG!

"Coming!" a woman's voice answered on the other side of the door.

"May I help you...?" the woman asked as she opened the door and looked at her son in front of her.

"Kaa-chan," Tsuna smiled warmly, "What's for lunch? It smells delicious."

Nana gasped as she brought a hand up to her lips.

"Tsu-kun," she whispered his name longingly as her tears began to well up. "My Tsu-kun. You're home!"

Nana hesitantly brought her hands up to Tsuna's face, lightly rubbing his cheeks with her thumbs.

"Tadaima," Tsuna said as he placed his larger hands over hers.

After the loving reunion between mother and son, Nana dragged her son inside their house and sat him down by the kitchen table.

"Everything still looks the same," Tsuna said as he took in his surroundings.

"Of course!" his mother stated as she stirred her pot. "Your mother might be by herself nowadays with the kids at school, but when you or your father come home, Kaa-chan wants you two to be comfortable in your own home."

Tsuna smiled at that.

"Is that curry I smell?" Tsuna asked as he took a large whiff of the smell in the air.

"Why, yes it is!" his mother giggled. "For some reason, I felt it was going to be a good day, so I decided to make a large batch of curry. And lucky me! My son comes home!"

"What an amazing intuition you have there, Kaa-chan," Tsuna said as he got up to grab dishes and utensils for him and his mother.

After placing the dishes on the table, his mother turned to look at him.

"Thank you for taking out the dishes, Tsu-kun," his mother smiled. "But why did you put out an extra plate?"

"I did what?" he looked and realized he placed three plates out instead of two. "Huh. Must be my intuition or something, but it feels like..."

DING! DONG!

"Ara," his mother looked out towards the direction of the door. "Who is it this time? Tsu-kun, would you mind grabbing the door?"

"Sure," Tsuna answered warily.

_Why am I having a bad premonition about this? _Tsuna wondered to himself as he went up to the front door.

DING! DONG!

"Hai! Hai!" Tsuna called. "I'm coming!"

He opened the door and saw nothing in front of him.

"...What?" he was about to close the door but...

CLICK!

"Keep the door open for me Dame-Tsuna," a childlike voice demanded.

"HIIIIIIE!" Tsuna looked down and screamed as he saw a gun pointed at him. "Reborn!"

"Ciaossu!" Reborn tipped his fedora at Tsuna. "I smell curry. Can't wait to have some. Now let me in, Dame-Tsuna."

"Tsu-kun!" his mother called. "Who's at the door?"

"Ah!" he turned to yell back at his mother. "It's- ACK!"

Reborn jabbed Tsuna with the handle of his gun and entered the house as Tsuna fell to his knees grasping onto the pain on his right side.

"Maman!" Reborn called as he took off his shoes and walked into the kitchen. "The curry smells delicious!"

"Ah!" his mother turned to look at him. "Reborn-kun! Is that you? My, how you've grown!"

"Ciaossu!" He took his hat off and took a seat.

"You're growing more handsome each time I see you," Nana placed a hand on her own cheek.

"Of course," Reborn smiled. "It's because I'm the best."

"Oh you!" Nana giggled.

"Itai..." Tsuna moaned in pain as he returned to the kitchen and sat down around the table. "That really hurt, Reborn."

"Deal with it," Reborn said. "You decided to take a vacation before telling me or anyone else. Then you disappear the whole morning, even though you arrived from your flight at seven this morning."

"Ara?" Nana tilted her head. "Tsu-kun, you came back this morning? Why didn't you tell me? I would have come to pick you up."

"Oh, it's no worry," Tsuna scratched his cheek in nervousness. "I just had to meet up with Hibari-san first. That's all. And besides, how could I have my mother come pick me up at the airport? It would hurt me to see you go out of your way for me!"

"A mother would do anything for her beloved child!" his mother said as she turned on the coffee machine.

"But your son wouldn't want you to do anything," he replied. "I'd rather you stay put and I come home to the food made with love, because no matter where I go, Kaa-chan's home cooked food will always taste the best!"

"Oh Tsu-kun!" his mother pinched his cheek as her faced flushed in embarrassment. "You're definitely a sweet talker! You really take after your father!"

"Yes," Reborn said as he placed his elbow on the table and leaned his head on his hand. "You really do take after him."

"Itai!" Tsuna rubbed his abused cheek after his mother let go of it. "Kaa-chan! I am not like Tou-san at all! Why do you always say that? I am nothing like that idiot father of mine."

"Tsu-kun, you can deny it all you want," his mother waved her ladle about as she turned to face her curry on the stove, "but Kaa-chan knows best!"

"Your mother's right you know," Reborn stated.

"You always side with everyone except me!" Tsuna retorted.

"But she is correct," Reborn repeated as he took a sip of the coffee that Nana just placed next to him. "Now let's get back to the matter at hand."

"Ugh," Tsuna scratched his head as he leaned forward onto the table. "What matter?"

"Why," Reborn began as he placed his mug down and crossed his hands together on the table, "the Hibari matter, of course."

"...What about it?" Tsuna looked at him skeptically.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Maman's noticed it by now," Reborn sat himself upright as Nana took the plates from the table.

"Noticed...what?" Tsuna looked between his mother and his former tutor.

"Are you talking about Hibari Kyouya?" Nana asked as she handed Reborn a plate of rice and curry. "Here you go, Reborn-kun."

"Yes Maman," Reborn said as he took the plate from her hand. "_Grazie._"

"What about Hibari-san?" Tsuna was so confused. "What are you talking about?"

"Tsu-kun," his mother looked at him as she handed him his plate of curry and rice, "Reborn-kun and I have noticed that... you seem to be very well acquainted with Hibari-kun. Not that I mind at all. He's a real looker, if I may say so myself!"

"Well, obviously," Tsuna stated with a look of amazement at his mother's side comment of the former prefect. "We're business partners, Kaa-chan."

"Oh really?" his mother questioned as she placed her plate of curry and rice down on the table. "I'll be back quickly. I forgot there was something I was looking at a couple days ago that I wanted to show you when you came back to visit."

"O-okay," Tsuna looked at his mother warily.

The moment Nana left the kitchen and headed up the stairs, Reborn stared Tsuna down hard.

"W-what?!" Tsuna sat up straight to keep his distance from Reborn, who was sitting directly across from him.

"You know," Reborn took a sip of his coffee, "I find it odd that you and your... business partner always make the time to have a date the moment you arrive back in Namimori."

"...W-what did you just say, Reborn?" Tsuna leaned forward. "A-a-a d-date? Y-you just said that Hi-Hibari-san and I were on a-a-a-a-a date?"

"Yes," Reborn answered. "I just said that."

"...WHAT?!" Tsuna yelled after a short pause. "Wh-what do you mean? A-a-a date?! With Hi-Hibari-san?! Where the hell did this come from?!"

"Watch your language," Reborn pulled out his gun and aimed it at Tsuna.

"HIIIIIE!" Tsuna screamed in fear. "Don't shoot!"

"You are in the presence of your highly esteemed mother," Reborn stated matter of factly. "Crude language is to stay outside of the house to respect the hospitality and consideration of the host, AKA your mother."

"I'm sorry!" Tsuna continued screaming with his hands in the air. "I am so sorry I used crude language inside the house! Please forgive me Reborn!"

"Don't freak out so much, Dame-Tsuna," Reborn suggested. "You'll make the curry fall."

_Of all things, the only thing in his mind is the curry?! _Tsuna shouted in his head. _What about the gun pointed at me right now?!_

"I'm back!" his mother re-entered the kitchen and stared at the situation at hand. "Reborn-kun, how many times do I have to tell you? No toys are allowed on the kitchen table during meal time!"

_That is SO not a toy!_ Tsuna really wanted to tell his mother.

"Yes Maman," Reborn obeyed and put his gun away. "Sorry for the trouble, Maman."

"Good!" his mother smiled as she walked over and sat down next to Tsuna.

"Kaa-chan," Tsuna looked down at the object his mother was holding. "What is that?"

"This," his mother said as she handed it to him, "is the best picture I took during your high school graduation. I'm very proud of it."

"Oh, that one," Reborn said excitedly. "I agree. It's the best one, Maman. Can I eat now?"

"Teehee!" Nana pinched Reborn's cheek. "You can go ahead and eat first Reborn-kun."

"Thank you Maman," Reborn grabbed his spoon. "Itadakimasu!"

The moment he looked at the photo after taking it from his mother, his jaw dropped. It was a picture of him underneath the cherry blossom tree with the former prefect. The picture shows Hibari with his hand on Tsuna's cheek as Tsuna shyly winces in surprise.

"It's delicious as always Maman!" Reborn commented on her cooking as he continued gobbling down the curry.

"Why thank you so much Reborn-kun!" his mother glowed in happiness. "Tsu-kun, you shouldn't keep your mouth open that long. It'll hurt your jaw."

"Wh-wh-wh-when did you take this picture?!" Tsuna screamed the moment he got his voice back.

"Why," his mother cheerily began, "when you decided to part from your friends to run up to your senpai. Who knows what you two were talking about, but I was looking for you because you suddenly up and disappeared, when lo and behold! I see my Tsu-kun underneath a sakura tree with the handsome Hibari-kun! It was so adorable that I just had to take a picture! Mou! I can't believe you won't even tell me! How long have you two been together?"

"H-have you shown this picture to anyone?!" Tsuna looked at his mother with desperation, ignoring her question. "People are gonna misunderstand if they see this! Why did you even take this picture?! AGH! Did you show it to Reborn?!"

Tsuna held the picture up to his chest, hopefully to keep the picture away from prying hands, particularly from the one across from him. Reborn only smirked at Tsuna's defensive maneuver as he took another bite of the curry.

"Maman showed it to me the moment she printed it out from her hard drive," Reborn stated as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. "I asked her to print me a copy as well."

"Wh-wh-wha," Tsuna stuttered as no logical sentence formed in his head and his face turned paler than ever, "b-b-b-bu-bu-but... huh?"

The picture slipped through his hands and fell to the ground as he placed his hands on his face in shock and exasperation.

"Tsu-kun," his mother said as she placed her hand on his shoulder, "um, let's forget what happened and have lunch, okay? We'll talk about this later when you're ready."

Nana leaned over to grab the photo that fell on the floor and placed it in the pocket on her apron, then she grabbed Tsuna's frozen face.

"Tsu-kun," his mother repeated his name, "did you hear me?"

"...uuuhhhhh...y-y-yeah," Tsuna finally answered as his mother let go and he grabbed the spoon by his plate. "Itadakimasu."

They continued eating lunch with Nana and Reborn mostly talking about nonsensical things and Tsuna kept to himself and nodded or shook his head whenever they asked for his opinion, but for the remainder of their meal, they made sure not to talk about the former prefect.

* * *

I hadn't planned to place Reborn in the chapter, but I think I'm gonna use him and Nana to make Tsuna realize what's going on between him and Hibari. Sorry if this chapter wasn't satisfying. It'll take me another while to work on part 2, but please bear with the unmotivated me! And thanks for any and all reviews! I tend to forget to thank my reviewers through PMs and whatnots.


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